Adjustable strap for articles of clothing



March 27, 1956 s. HELICTIS 2,739,315

ADJUSTABLE STRAP FOR ARTICLES OF momma Filed May 18, 1954 //V l f/V 7 01? GEORGE HfL/O 775 dam/n94 ADJUSTABLE STRAP FOR ARTICLES OF CLOTHING George Heliotis, Mont Albert, near Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Application May 18, 1954, Serial No. 430,581

Claims priority, application Australia May 20, 1953 1 Claim. (Cl. 2-323) This invention relates to an improved adjustable strap for articles of clothing, particularly articles of women's underwear such as brassieres or slips, and it refers particularly to a shoulder strap, for attachment to or incorporation with a brassiere or slip, for example, having means whereby the efiective length of the strap may be readily adjusted.

The invention has been devised particularly with the object of providing a strap made in one continuous length of material, such as tape, so arranged that the efiective length of the strap may be readily adjusted. Another object is to provide a strap incorporating, at suitable locations between its ends, buckles for adjusting the effective length of the strap, the strap being so threaded States Patent through the buckles that the length of the strap may be adjusted Without disturbing the ends of the strap. Another object is to devise an adjustable strap which will be relatively economical to manufacture and stronger than adjustable straps hitherto provided. A still further object is to devise an adjustable strap in the manufacture of which there will be required no sewing operations, the strap being so threaded through a pair of buckles that the one continuous length of material, with two buckles, constitutes the strap.

The invention devised with these and other objects in view comprises an improved adjustable strap for the purposes set forth consisting, broadly of a tape, an anchorage buckle and an adjusting buckle, the tape being threaded through the anchorage buckle and the adjusting buckle in such manner that the anchorage buckle is held on the tape in fixed position and the adjusting buckle will normally stay in any set position on the tape so that the effective length of the strap is fixed but may he slid along the tape in order that the effective length of the strap may be adjusted.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood and readily put into practical form I shall now describe, with reference to the accompanying illustrative drawings, a preferred form of the invention. In these drawings:

Fig. 1 shows the incorporation of the strap in a brassiere;

Fig. 2 illustrates the manner in which the tape is threaded through the two buckles; and

Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate the construction of the two buckles incorporated in the strap.

According to this particular form of the invention the anchorage buckle 5 has three transverse openings 6, 7 and 8 separated by two transverse or cross bars 9 and 10. The adjusting buckle 11 has two transverse openings referred to by the numerals 12 and Ill-separated by a cross bar 14.

The tape 15 of the adjustable strap is threaded through the anchorage buckle 5 by passing said tape beneath one end of the buckle, upwardly through the opening 8, over the top of the cross bars 10 and 9, down through the opening 6, back beneath the cross bar 9, up through the opening 7, across the cross bar 10 (passing beneath the previous layer of the tape) and then down through the opening 8. The tape is thus locked about the cross bars 9 and 10 of the anchorage buckle and said buckle 5 cannot be readily moved along the tape 15 without first loosening the tape completely about the cross bars 9 and 10. After the tape is drawn through the opening 8 it is extended forwardly, and then threaded through the opening 12 of the adjusting buckle 11, rearwardly over the cross bar 14 and down through the opening 13. The tape is then threaded back to the anchorage buckle 5, being passed beneath the inner end of the buckle and upwardly through the opening 6, and then back over the inner end of the buckle 5. Finally, the tape 15 is threaded forwardly to the adjusting buckle 11, the tape being passed upwardly through the opening 13, over the top of the cross bar 14, down through the opening 12 and beneath the outer end of the adjusting buckle 11.

Thus, one end portion of the tape 15 is held nonslidably relative to the anchorage buckle 5, a mid-portion of the tape 15 can slip freely through the opening 6 and about the inner end portion of the buckle 5, and the tape may be readily slid through the openings of the adjusting buckle 11 when the tape is not under tension. It is to be noted that the two buckles 5 and 11 may be located at any suitable position between the opposite ends of the tape, and that between the two buckles there are three layers of the tape material.

In order to adjust the effective length of the tape 15 the adjusting buckle 11 may be slid along the tape so as to increase or decrease the distance between the two buckles, and by applying tension to the opposite ends of the tape the lengths of the three layers of the tape between the two buckles will be equalized. This adjustment may be readily effected and in doing so the anchorage buckle will not move on the tape.

The two buckles may be readily formed from suitable plastic material by suitable moulding or pressing operations, or the buckles may be formed of metal or metal covered by suitable plastic, and in order to manufacture the adjustable strap it is then merely necessary to thread the tape through the two buckles, in the manner described, so that the buckles will be fastened in position on the tape. At the opposite ends of the tape there may be provided, if desired, any suitable fastening means-such as hook members adapted to be engaged in eye members fastened to the particular article of clothing or the ends of the tape may be left without such fastening means so that they may be sewn in position.

The adjustable strap according to this invention may be conveniently used as a shoulder strap for a brassiere as illustrated in Fig. 1for example, or it may be used as part of the back strap of such an article of clothing. It may also be conveniently incorporated in mens braces or in the shoulder straps for rucksacks and the likethe buckles and the tape being of appropriate dimensions according to the purpose to which the adjustable strap is applied.

It may be found in use that the anchorage and/or adjusting buckle may be modified in design, and that the tape may be threaded through the buckles in different manner to achieve the same object, namely, to anchor the one buckle on the strap so as to provide an anchorage for the adjustment of the other buckle, but any such minor modifications as come within the scope of the appended claim areto be deemed as being included within the scope of the invention.

What I do claim is:

An adjustable strap comprising an anchorage buckle having a first cross bar, a second cross bar, and a third cross bar; an adjusting buckle having two end cross bars and an intermediate cross bar; and a tape threaded over the first and second cross bars of the anchorage buckle, under such second cross bar, around such first cross bar,

beneath such second and third cross bars of the anchorage buckle, beneath the intermediate cross bar of the adjustingbuckle, about said intermediate cross bar, back to the anchorage buckle and about the third cross bar thereof, and back through the adjusting buckle.

, a 4 Referenceh Cited in the file of this patent in UNITED STATES PATENTS 634,014 Molloy Oct. 3, 1899 1,357,483 Tablet Nov. 2, 1920 1,954,768 Krakauer Apr. 10, 1934 1,972,933 Harrison Sept. 11, 1934 FOREIGNPATENTS V 449,906 France Mar. 11,1913 

